Harbus

Issue date: 9/2/08 Section: News

Esther by the pineapple fields in Swaziland

"But what is a gooseberry?" A few short weeks earlier I had resorted to old faithful Wikipedia and Google Images before embarking on a mission to build a viable business plan around these little orange berries. Now, our pilot group of rural Swazi farmers, having already committed their precious land to the berries, pondered the same question. Despite having little information about the crop, Thabitha, Caiphus, Nora, and Sibongile, the leaders of our farmers' group, had already rallied their communities' best farmers to take part in Swaziland's entry into the gooseberry export market. As a horticulture consultant for TechnoServe, a U.S.-funded and headquartered NGO, I pulled together a business plan and financials in preparation for raising funds and launching the gooseberries. But more than the figures and projections, I will remember the visits to homesteads in the Swazi bush. Here I met the farmers that would benefit from the gooseberries, and their faces and families brought to life for me the multitude of challenges facing Swaziland.

TechnoServe Swaziland (TNS) seeks to identify sustainable business solutions to rural poverty. At this moment the office is investing resources in building such markets as chili peppers, vegetables, honey, and goats and in developing local entrepreneurs through the national business plan competition, handicrafts, and educational programs for school age youth. The mandate for the Swazi office is to develop solutions that will serve the nation long after TNS' charter is through. There are countless barriers to achieving this type of idealistic success. On a daily basis, TNS must scour the tiny nation for talent and leadership, for resources to fund potential projects, and ideas worthy of development. On the plus side, I believe in TNS' model of viewing development through a business lens. Besides highlighting sustainability, this approach attracts individuals striving for the type of progress that complements the aid that arrives in the form of charitable donations. Located in the same building that houses all the foreign aid organizations, our small office was a cornucopia of cultures- I worked with native Swazis and Americans, shared an office with a German and reported to a Zimbabwean supervisor. Despite diverse working styles and experiences, most of the office shared the sense of humor and flexibility that are necessary when working in Africa.

Continued...

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